Certification in demand

The Barbados Accreditation Council (BAC) has observed an increasing demand for quality education training and recognised qualifications. Yvonne Walkes, chairman of the BAC, made these remarks last Tuesday at the opening ceremony of the three-day workshop on Curriculum Design And Development In Competence-Based Education And Training. Walkes linked the increase in demand to the liberalisation of education and training services globally and the free movement of skills and labour through mechanisms such as the CARICOM Single Market and Economy.She also stated that there was an increase in the competition between local and foreign providers of educational services for the same student groups.  Because of this, the BAC chairman said, there was a need for local educational institutions to produce globally competitive post-secondary or tertiary educational system that could effectively compete with others, based on international standards.The BAC has therefore teamed up with the Technical and Vocational Education and Training Council to host the workshop, which is focused on enriching the competence-based, teaching-learning environment and, by extension, enriching the quality of the nation’s human capital.Walkes said that because of its focus on the acquisition of practical skills, quality technical and vocational education and training was key to the development of technical professional competencies, which would result in a workforce that was more flexible and responsive to the needs of the local labour market.The continuous improvement of teaching quality is also a concern of the BAC.  “The BAC believes that teaching is one of the most demanding and pivotal professions in the world; therefore, investments were necessary to the development of the competencies of teachers and trainers. “This workshop in its design, therefore, helps us to address an area of teaching and learning that is crucial to the quality of the educational provision and, by extension, the integrity and credibility of the post-secondary education and training sector in this country,” Walkes said. (LK)